Sansui Kyo - thezensite

Shōbōgenzō: On the Spiritual Discourses of the Mountains and the Water 154To be sure, a mountain is not the realm of ordinary folk, nor is it the realm ofthose who dwell in lofty places. You cannot really perceive what a mountain is bymeans of the standards used by those who wander in ignorance. If mountains arebeyond comparison with the everyday notion of ‘flowing’, who then, pray, candoubt that a mountain flows, and that a mountain does not flow, as well aswhatever else a mountain may do?And, from distant times, there have been wise ones and saintly ones whowere even wont to live on the water. Whilst living on the water, some caught fish,some caught humans, and some caught the Way. These are all in the traditionalmainstream of ‘being in the Water’. Along with this, there will be those who catchthemselves, those who catch the Hook, those who are caught by the Hook, andthose who are caught by the Way. Long ago, no sooner had the monk Tokujō lefthis Transmission Master Yakusan to go live at the heart of the river than he becameacquainted with the wise and saintly one of the Hua-tung River. 18 Was it not a fishhe hooked? Was it not a person he hooked? Was it not the Water he hooked? Was itnot someone from the Water he hooked? The one who can really ‘see’ Tokujō isTokujō. Tokujō encountering of That One is his meeting ‘the True Person’.❀Not only is there water in the world, there is a world within the world ofwater. Not only is it like this in water, there is also a sentient world in clouds, and asentient world in wind, and a sentient world in fire, and a sentient world in earth,and a sentient world in the realm of thoughts and things, and a sentient world in ablade of grass, and a sentient world in a monk’s traveling staff. Wherever there is asentient world, there is, of necessity, a world of Buddhas and Ancestors in thatplace. Such a principle should be well explored indeed! Hence, the Water is thevery palace of the True Dragon: It is beyond flowing or falling. If we recognize Itonly as something that flows, the word ‘flowing’ slanders the Water. One reasonfor this is that the use of the word forces It to be something not flowing. The Wateris simply the Water as It is, in and of Itself. It is the natural functioning of theWater as the Water and is beyond ‘flowing’. As soon as you penetrate through yourpractice both the flowing of a single drop of water and its non-flowing, thecomplete penetration of all thoughts and things will immediately manifest beforeyour very eyes. With mountains, too, there are mountains hidden within treasures,18. After Tokujō left his Master, he ferried a small boat across the river. He tried to teach Zen tothose boarding his ferry boat. He often lifted his oar out of the water and said, “Do youunderstand?” One of those whom he met in this way later became his Dharma heir.